Though I never had a doubt, my Viper crew was a little skeptical about the promos for last night’s Battlestar Galactica episode, “Unfinished Business.”

“Boxing?” Athena asked.

“That sounds stupid,” added Helo.

Oh ye of little faith. “Unfinished Business” was centered around a series of bloody boxing matches, but the real meat of the episode was found in the flashbacks to life on New Caprica, where we learned, among other things, just what went down between Apollo and Starbuck that led to all those harsh feelings on display after that little jump in time at the end of last season. It was a meditation on bad choices, missed opportunies, lost love and all that heartbreaking jazz. You couldn’t help but feel so sad about Lee and Kara, left with nothing to give one another except brutal and punishing blows in the ring, until that final, weary embrace and moment of raw honesty.

I remain eager to see what’s up with Baltar’s new, complex relationship with D’Anna and Caprica Six, particularly D’Anna’s erotic indulgence with recreational suicide, but a visit to the Cylon Basestar would have been a distraction from the powerful storytelling we saw last night. BSG, with all its exploration of what it really mean to be so flawed and so human, remains my favorite hour of TV these days.

This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2006.

Getting hassled by The Man Mild-mannered reporter

26 replies on “Million-Dollar Starbuck”

  2. Saaaayyy whaaat?? The original series sucked. If TV has made any advances in the last three decades it’s in the gratuitous sexiness department. So unless you’ve got a chubby for Starbutt, no amount of hairspray and feathering could make that old show good. What next? Raves about the A-Team. Oh that Face, he’s so hot–In a grandpa sort of way.

    Let me give you a tip on Nintzel’s appreciation for TV. If it has girl-on-girl action, the suggestion of girl-on-girl action, or even girl on super-cute-boy-I’d-do-him-although-I-ain’t-gay action then Nintzel likes it.

    “Complex relationship?” You mean puzzling relationshionships? They couldn’t BE more “complex”, contrived much?

    Thank goodness only the beautiful humans survive! It’s so hard to be beautiful. Well at least there’s an abundance of blow-driers in space.

  3. Hey, Tortillas, I’m proud to support lesbian rights. You need to stop bein’ such a hater, pal. Just let people love who they’re meant to love.
    And you’re wrong about the hair, at least in the new BSG. They don’t need blowdriers, just plain ol’ styling product. Except for the superhot Cylons, and they’re toasters, dummy. Of course they’re beautiful and have great hair. Frakin’ duh.
    By the way, you clearly haven’t seen the series if you think only the beautiful people survived. Take a hard look at Adama’s craggy face. He’s sexy as all hell, but by no means could he be called beautiful.
    Frakin’ A!

  8. Oh, Madame President–you think she’s a hottie? Come on. The rest are mostly cylons, smart guy. I’d tell you which ones, but that would be a spoiler and I don’t want to ruin the surprise for those unfortunate readers who haven’t tuned in yet. (You’re missing out on the best hour of TV out there! TV Guide even says so!) Besides, if you were watching, you’d understand that their good looks are absolutely integral to the storyline and they’re not just eye-candy. Except for Baltar, who’s such a yummy evil genius.

  11. Adama isn’t the “token” ugly guy–he’s one of many ugly guys. Check out the guy who plays drunk ol’ Col. Tigh, or the guy who plays the Chief. They’re not hotties. Neither is Gaeta. And Apollo was really fat for a few episodes this season–I see you don’t have links to any shots of him eating those Sagitarrian bon-bons he was so fond of for awhile. Don’t hate the others becaus they’re beautiful! Watch BSG!

  12. Oh, Tortillas, you can’t post anymore because the computer won’t let you? Well, that’s just a little taste of what happens when computers start running things. Give thanks it didn’t incinerate your home planet. Maybe now you have a little sympathy for the crew of Galactica.

  13. Are you associating Apollo’s fatness to his beauty? No matter, I’m going to watch it just for you Jim Nintzel. Besides a programme with “Sagitarrian bon-bon eating” can’t be all bad.

    Computers ARE taking over!

  14. Thanks for cleaning up those posts, I freaked out and kept on submitting. You can scratch No. 5 too, I screwed up the link on that.
    Oh, Judge Judy’s on, gotta go!

  15. Ummm…Tortilla, you just have to disagree with everyone eh? You have too many lameo opinions.
    Don’t you feel that this just may be a call of attention or affection that your mamma never left you?

    You should leave the house every once in a while, and actually meet people.

    hugs & kisses

    PS your momma say’s “tell tortilla I said hello!” – she’s laying next to me in bed. What a beauty! Her girlfriend is cute too.

  16. Oh Bud. Talk about lame. Your mamma? That’s it? Give me something to work here. Hey, how about you post the ten commandments, I’ll shit on them for you.

    You’re too easy Buddy. Homosexuality doesn’t threaten me, not even my mommy’s carpet-munching. I don’t blame my mommy for nothing and I don’t pay for someone to tell me it’s her fault. As for YOU and her is the sack, THAT’s freaking hilarious! What’s she gonna do with the other two minutes? Good thing she’s got her girlsfriend there. I call her “Tia Panocha”

    The minimum wage raise put you out of business yet?

  17. Just for the record, I did agree with whoever suggested that Barrio Grill has the best fish tacos. I guess you can’t say I disagree with “everyone”, just you.
    I don’t actually disagree with Nintzel, I just find the idea that hip-hugger pants made a comeback in the future, well, amusing. Galactica MAY very well be the best hour on television. I’m not disagreeing with that, most TV is pretty crappy. Galactica has a good chance.

    And in case you missed Nintzel’s comment, I’m “hater” not a “disagreer”
    Hate, hate, hate, hate HATE! Although I try an not use the work “hate” to describe how my little heart is feelin’

  19. blogging on the most random stuff. are we going to see a mars whatever that girl from the old upn on here? nintzel keep the sci fi to yourself

  22. Oh, please, Jim, not another sometimes trustworthy person urging me to watch Battlestar Galactica. I just can’t take the pressure. Only now am I finally catching up with Buffy (I’m a third of the way through Season 2 of vampire slayage). And I had to borrow the DVDs from the TW contributor known as David Ryder, because a certain TW senior writer never got around to loaning me his Buffy stash. But it’s nice to know that he is able to spend his free time doing TV research to hone his understanding of the state legislature. Be sure to log your Battlestar Galactica-watching on your time card, Jim. If you’re blogging about it, it’s work-related!

  23. That’s quite the fantasy there Buddy. Raping a 70-year-old woman, forcing her to have your baby (how very Christian of you) and proudly announcing your new son. That is so sweet!
    I have only one piece of advice for my lil’ bro’. Fourth trimester abortion!
    You are sooooo awesome, Budster!
    XOXOXOXO

  24. Mr Reel, are you saying Jim Nintzel is getting paid for this?? Well this just turned a pathetic blogging attempt into a genius ruse. Way to “work it” Mr Nintzel!!

  25. It may be too late for Buffy–for me. I did manage to see all the Angel episodes, mostly on DVD and some TV watching while the boss was on Martini break.

    Mr. Nintzel, wasn’t there another SciFi programme you were pimpin’ a couple years back?

  26. It’s never too late for Buffy, as James Reel has demonstrated. The Scoobie gang has a timeless quality. It’s fun stuff, isn’t it, James? Just wait till you get to the Season 6 musical. Though things pretty well slide downhill from there, sadly.
    James, I know you’ve got a lot of Buffy ahead of you–and a lot of Angel once that’s done. But you’ve got to get aboard Galactica. The first time I watched the pilot miniseries, I thought it was a little slow, but after I got hooked on season 1, I went back and watched the miniseries again and realized it wasn’t Galactica, it was me. If you get caught up by the end of the season, you can join my Viper crew for the big finale.
    Tortillas, the other sci-fi wonder in recent years was Firefly, cut down in its prime by those bastards at Fox. Vive Joss Whedon!

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